Research company Dell’Oro Group noted in a new forecast report that growth in the global mobile core network markeT (MCN) was being impacted by slow deployments of 5G Standalone (SA) by mobile carriers.
According to the report, worldwide MCN 5-year growth is forecasted to grow at a 3% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR).
“The cumulative revenue forecast for the period 2022 to 2026 is over $50 billion. The overall revenues and the CAGR have been dampened by the muted uptake in 5G SA networks,” said Dave Bolan, research director at Dell’Oro Group. “5G SA network deployments have not matched the hype,with only 19 networks launched to date,” Bolan said.
“CSPs have three choices for offering 5G: Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), 5G Non-standalone (5G NSA), and 5G SA. Only 5G SA requires the new 5G Core and many CSPs seem content for the time being to stick with DSS and 5G NSA. At the same time, CSPs are evaluating the option of moving 5G workloads to the public cloud, which is delaying the market uptake for 5G SA,” Bolan added.
The report also highlighted that 5G MCN, IMS Core, and Multi-Access Network Computing (MEC) will have positive growth rates for the forecast period while 4G MCN will experience negative growth.
By 2026, virtually all businesses will be container-based cloud-native network functions, the report added.
A total of 200 operators in 78 countries have already launched one or more 3GPP-compliant 5G services as of the end of December, according to the latest update from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA).
Also, 487 operators in 145 countries were investing in 5G, including trials, acquisition of licenses, planning, network deployment and launches, up from 412 operators at the end of 2020.
GSA also reported that 187 operators in 72 countries have already launched 5G mobile services, while 83 operators in 45 countries had launched 3GPP-compliant 5G Fixed Wireless Access services (41.5% of those with launched 5G services).
GSA’s report also showed that 99 operators in 50 countries had been identified as investing in 5G Standalone (including those evaluating/testing, piloting, planning, deploying as well as those that had launched 5G SA networks). GSA had catalogued 20 operators in 16 countries as having deployed or launched 5G standalone in public networks.
